


Protection

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Complicated Relationships, Coulson thinks Daisy is the magical place, Daisy feels, Daisy's past, F/M, Flirting, Found Family, Friendship/Love, GH-325, Hive, Love, Male-Female Friendship, friends to somethings, mentions of past relationships - Freeform, relationships problems, undefined relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 13:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6806872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working out some Daisy feels before the penultimate episode of Season 3. I am only capable of writing fluff disguised as angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Protection

_It would have to happen. Just like this._  
  
_Never able to put it into words, but forced to name it._  
  
_There aren't enough words.  There will never be._

_He was the one thing she wanted to protect. From this curse._

_That curse, and his stubbornness._

_He refuses to believe in it._

 

#  
  
She knew when he lost his hand. What Fate had in store for him.  
  
There was never going to be a place he wouldn't follow her. Even into darkness. 

Watching him struggle with his new hand, manage the frustration and the pain.  Never speaking to her of it, as though she didn’t play a part in it.

She’s been fighting her way out from under it all of her life, only to have it keep finding her, over and over again.

Only now, he’s caught up in it.  They’ve saved each other, but this is different.  This is out of her control.  
  
The way out, the way to save him, came to her late one night as they were talking over the new project.

He used the word “team”, talked about her like she was a superhero. But her mind had gone off somewhere else, staring down at the SHIELD file in front of her.  
  
He was her only connection left to her family. It would be safer, and if she could just convince him to join SHIELD, she wouldn't be alone.

Things would fall to the wayside, the way they do naturally.  He could just be the Director now, and not something else undefinable.  Complicated.

Still reaching for her, even after losing so much, after seeing the price of being close to her.

Coulson, _Phil_ , tells her things that make her resolve waiver.

“I can’t lose you, too.”

He’s already lost too much.  He can’t protect her from what she’s become.  It will find her, or she will make it herself, with these powers.

It’s almost a relief to her, then, when he realizes what she’s done.  That getting Mack to tag Lincoln only brought it out into the open.

She watches it register on his face.

At least she can go back to calling him “Sir” now.

 

#

When she left Miles, it was as much to protect him as it was a way for her keep moving forward.

He couldn’t follow. The looming darkness around her family, their secrets, and…SHIELD.

Even then, he wasn’t immune.  Somehow it found him, even after she let go.  Even though he wanted to take care of her.

She never thought that Miles would go that far, for her.

That he would try to find a way to follow her, to the rotten center of everything.

Coulson doesn’t call Lincoln by his first name.  But he lets him stay.  Of course he does.

That’s Phil Coulson for you.  His second chances.  Hard not to love him for it.

Would he ever give her a second chance, or would she have to beg him to treat her like she was just another agent?

Then of course, he proves her point, following her, even after the vision she had from Charles was spoken aloud.

Refusing to believe that he would shoot her.

She already knew, even when she said it.

She didn’t believe it, either.

It’s what gave her the idea that maybe, she could change the future.

He falls back again after, keeps his professional distance. They do work well together, even just over coms.

They always have.

When he tells her to “Just come home safe”, though.

He’s still holding on.

 

#

_You’re not my father._

_She sees the hurt in his eyes when she says it.  Like he means nothing to her._

_She wanted to give him a chance, like all the others.  He was the one she thought about first, though._

_He could’ve been a part of this family._

_“My father is alive, and I’m erased from his memory, because it would protect him. I sent him away, from this.”_

_He keeps running to it, like he doesn’t have a choice.  And now look at what he’s making her do._

_At least when Lincoln chose her back, she knew exactly why.  When Hive chooses her, it’s because of her darkness._

_They’re the same, see?  She belongs here._

_But him? He never looks at her like the darkness is greater._

_Even when he’s standing here in the midst of it._

_Why?_

_“You’re right. It’s not. I don’t know. And…I do.”_

_And in the end, it’s enough to set her free._

 

#

“You couldn’t just stay away.”

She looks askance, as the words hang between them.

Still, except for the wall of the pod fixed on a scene of a warm, sunny beach somewhere tropical, with a breeze stirring the tops of the palms.

She wonders if he chose it, or someone else did.

Mack has already come to see her, to tell her he knows it wasn’t her, still healing from…

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath, struggling when the memories invade.

How she was so convinced she was doing the right thing. For them all.

Coulson’s leg is healing, but it’s another reminder.  It didn’t even seem to slow him down, as far as she can tell.

Couldn’t even run if she tried.

He holds it out at an angle as he sits down in the chair.  It hurts, she’s sure, even though he’d never say it.

“Hurts like hell, thanks for asking.”

She blinks for a moment and then meets his eyes, and sees him smirking at her.

“How did you know?” she shrugs humorlessly, since he gave her the opening.

“I don’t know,” he answers quietly, looking down at his hands. “It was just this…feeling.”

Her lips press together and she sighs, looking down at the tubes attached to her arms.

“This yours?” she asks, lifting her arm out towards him.

“Yeah,” he nods.

“Mmm,” she jokes wearily.  “The good stuff.”

He lowers his head a little, like he’s not sure how to take that. “The GH drug. In both of us.  It was able to counter Hive’s influence.”

“It wasn’t enough.  For me,” she adds.

“Not yours alone, no.”

“I’m not sure,” she says at that, winding a finger around her head. “What parts of that were me and what were…”

“Under the influence?” he asks, glancing up at her, too quickly. “You don’t have to try to sort it all out now.”

“When this is finished, I’m going to turn myself into Talbot.  It’ll help calm things down.”

“No,” he says animatedly, leaning forward. “That’s off the table.”

“People are afraid.  Of what I am.”

“They should be,” he says, narrowing his eyes and sitting back. “You still belong here, with us.  You’re SHIELD. You’ve proven enough already.”

“What if that isn’t enough?”

“Then I guess we’ll find out.”

 

 

#

“You know, there’s an app for this now.”

She leans over the back of the couch as he flinches slightly and gives her a distasteful look.

“What are you talking about?”

He’s in the people seeking _stuff_ section of the paper, held between his hands, and Andrew _did_ call him desperate first.

“Sheesh,” he says, pulling the paper away from her. “I’m looking at the collectibles listings.”

“Right,” she says, sitting down on the sofa back and unwrapping the mint swiped from the nearby candy dish.

He jams his finger against the tiny print and she pops it in her mouth and leans over to see an ad for a Captain America trading card.

“Oh,” she smiles apologetically, biting down on the candy. “Cap trading cards _are_ a very hot item at the moment.”

“I really shouldn’t,” he fusses, then trails his finger to the right. “You on the other hand…look!  Level headed, loving, enjoys butterscotch hard candies.  What do you say?”

“I’m not a double jointed supermodel, though,” she squints at the fine print, then laughs, yanking the paper out of his hand. “However, I do like the occasional nap.  I’m very torn.”

He’s looking at her like _that_ again, and she wishes they weren’t in Talbot’s waiting room with his assistant watching them.

“ _Director_ ,” she says, folding the paper and slapping it against the front of his suit.

“Putting yourself at Talbot’s mercy wasn’t my idea,” he says with a roll of his eyes, and gets up as he sees the assistant put down the phone.

“You could’ve put your foot down,” she mentions, walking to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

“And you wouldn’t have liked that,” he answers quietly, turning to hold her gaze.

“It might depend on how you ask,” she says, with the tiniest hint of a smile.

He’s about to reply before his ears get any redder, when the buzzer sounds and the double security doors swing wide open.

“Johnson! Coulson! Get in here!” Coulson winces at it carrying all the way down the hall. “Do we need to review the definition of covert again?”

“Joey melted a _thing_ ,” Daisy sighs and starts to gesture.  “It’s in my field report that, I, uh haven’t written yet.”

“I’m sure. You’re very busy. After you?” he says, holding out his hand.

“C’mon, Phil,” she says, patting his lapel.  “You can handle Talbot.”

He watches her walk down the hall a little ways before she turns back over her shoulder.

“He’s sweet on you.”

The smile slowly pulls at one corner of his mouth, and he follows.


End file.
